


Off The Clock

by iwriteshipsnotsailthem



Series: The Wholesome Stripper AU feat Klance [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, First Meetings, Keith (Voltron) Is Trying, M/M, Stripper Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23963845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwriteshipsnotsailthem/pseuds/iwriteshipsnotsailthem
Summary: Lance notices one of his regular costumers outside of work and starts a random conversation with a stranger so they won't approach him.He just happened to start talking to Keith.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: The Wholesome Stripper AU feat Klance [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727677
Comments: 40
Kudos: 559





	Off The Clock

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my mini series :D
> 
> I've posted a few parts of this au on my instagram but these ao3 versions are /slightly/ different (as well as having better editing)
> 
> hope you enjoy! 💕

For most jobs, seeing a customer or client outside of working hours wasn't that big of a deal. You might start a small conversation, or give them a polite smile, wave and then go on with your day. If they're regular enough, you may even mention it when you see them on your next shift.

For Lance, it was just plain weird to see the random man or woman who he gave a lap dance to or had shoved a dollar bill into the elastic of his booty shorts.

He could tell when somebody recognised him from work. For the first few seconds he got a look of shock, like they didn't even realise that he was human and had a life outside of dancing. That just because a part of his job revolved around taking his clothes off he automatically was not a normal person with a normal life.

Usually, if he saw a client they were typically too embarrassed to approach him. It was definitely a good thing, since he would rather not have some creep follow him home.

But like lots of other dancers, he's had bad experiences before. He couldn't forget that one time a customer came up to him when he was hanging out at a bar and his friends. The sleazebag started suggesting Lance bring his work life back to his apartment so they could have the 'fun' they couldn't have before because of 'club policy'. Not allowing the man to feel him up definitely had nothing to do with the 'no touching unless permitted' rule. Luckily, Lance was one of those people who could quite easily squirm his way out of any situation with his charm and wit.

That included this unfortunate time when he was recognised.

He was on a train on the way home from his university classes. Tired, crabby about the amount of homework he was given but eager to get back to his small apartment that he shared with his best friend, Hunk, who had promised him cookies. It felt like it was the only thing keeping him from self combusting.

The train wasn't clogged tightly on this particular day, yet filled enough that he had to stand. Also not full enough that he hadn't noticed the feeling of someone's gaze. When he peered at the corner of his eyes he instantly recognised the face, trying to not look obvious that he was staring.

His name was Richard, or something along those lines. He was in the closet, which made Lance feel for the poor guy, but even more so for his wife at home who looked after their three kids while he was spending a good chunk of their money getting dances from a 21 year old man.

That 21 year old man being him, of course.

Richard was a semi regular customer. Came in every month or so. Sometimes more if he had excess steam to let off. Richard had taken quite a liking to Lance, which he didn't want to brag about, but a lot of the customers who liked men were.

The strip club Lance worked at was named Lion's Pride and was one of the only LGBT strip clubs he knew of. Men could wear more feminine costumes alongside masculine ones, vice versa for the females. It was a safe place and allowed non-straight individuals to not feel so awkward about getting a lap dance from the same gender. Of course the bi folk and straight people who came in still got dances from the other side. It was really just a matter of preference without the lack of assumption or judgement.

It was overall a decent place to work, especially in the sense of it being the kind of work it was. Lance was lucky in that fact. He wasn't overworked, treated like a prostitute or underpaid like he half expected when he walked in for his first shift. His badass Lesbian boss Allura would literally personally fight anyone who treated her employees with an ounce of disrespect. It wasn't a bad, or negative job for him to go to, actually, in some ways he quite liked it.

But back to the subject of Lance's current situation, there was nothing really wrong with Richard. He complied by the rules, tipped generously and had always been respectful.

That didn't stop the fact that seeing him in public was fucking weird. Especially because he was full on staring at Lance, probably thinking of him in much less than what he was currently wearing.

For this reason, was why he panicked as Richard started to walk over to his side of the train. But of course, Lance's quick mind let him jump his way out of potentially awkward conversation by leaping into another one.

His grin was forced and awkward as he turned to the guy next to him. "Oh my god! I didn't even see you there buddy! How have you been?"

There was a paused moment before the guy he had just randomly started a conversation with raised his head. He was around Lance's age, which meant that hopefully Richard would believe that he knew this guy.

A part of him was horrified at himself for picking _this_ individual to be the one he had a conversation with. Lance had sneakily checked him out when he had entered the train. Handsome, dressed in a leather jacket and hair tied back at the bottom of his nape in a knot. Dark eyes with dark hair and looking very confused. Kinda broody, but it was working for him in the 'mysterious' kind of way.

Mr Dreamy's eyes darted left and right, as if making sure no one was around him that Lance could've been speaking to instead.

"Are... are you talking to me?" He said it quiet enough that Richard wouldn't have heard of it.

"Just go with it," Lance spoke through his gritted teeth that were formed by a smile. He extended his hand to put on his shoulder. The guy followed the action with his eyes but didn't shove him off. "So, how have you been?" He repeated.

The guy's eyes flickered again from left to right again, as if trying to figure out what to do. "... Good?"

Oh thank _God_ , he was playing along. And well enough for it to work because when Lance checked at the corner of his eyes he couldn't see Richard making any moves to come closer.

"I am so happy that you are doing well. How is your job going?"

The guy – God bless his soul – nodded slowly. "Yes. Uh." He scratched the back of his head. "It's going... Great."

"That's awesome!"

"Thank you?"

Good thing this guy was cute because his acting skills were absolute shite. Dude wasn't giving him _anything_ to work with.

Lance's eyes nervously moved around the cart, trying to figure out what he should say next. Spotting a dog food poster ad he let his brain settle on that.

"How's your dog?" He blurted out.

The guy stared at Lance for another long moment, as if deliberating his sanity before he pulled out his phone. Freezing in uncertainty, Lance waited with twiddling thumbs and bouncing feet as the guy then extended his phone towards him. His jaw dropped at the picture of a husky puppy.

"And you actually have a dog," he whispered under his breath before readjusting his volume back to normal with an enthused- "He's so _cute_!"

"Yeah, he's pretty cute," the guy agreed, a smile that looked like a proud parent appearing on his face as he overlooked the image. "Wanna see a video?" Lance nodded eagerly, leaning closer so he could fawn over the video of the puppy playing with a chew toy.

The cute guy with the cute dog distracted Lance from the actual reason he was speaking to a stranger until the train came to a slow halt. His balance went awkward, causing him to lean forward and into the guy's space to keep from toppling over. The guy didn't seem to mind, not even making a move to create more space between them. Once it had fully come to a stop Lance sprung backwards to get back to a safe distance and grinned at the guy apologetically.

A few people got off the train, including Richard himself which allowed Lance to finally exhale his breath and loosen his shoulders. Once the doors closed he turned to the guy and smiled genuinely, rather than his big fake grin that had been sprinkled with dread.

"Thanks man, you're a goddamn lifesaver." The guy blinked, obviously not quite picking up that their charade was over. "I'm Lance by the way, and you just saved me from a very awkward interaction."

"Awkward," he repeated.

"Yeah, I'll just put it down to a customer who I would rather not interact with outside of the workplace. I'm off the clock, so I don't need to deal with that unless I'm getting paid, right?"

He looked a little confused, obviously not understanding but not confused enough to question it. "Right," he agreed. The expression that came over his face reminded Lance of someone who had just had a lightbulb moment. "I'm Keith."

Lance grinned. "Well thank you very much Keith, you're a good sport." A quick idea popped into his head. He pulled out a notebook from his backpack as well as a pen. "As a thank you, I make the suggestion of allowing me to buy you a coffee," he said as he wrote his number on the paper, ripped off the sheet and handed it to Keith. "Feel free to call me, or you know, send me pictures of your dog. Very cute by the way."

Keith took the paper and glanced down on it, going bright red as he realised what it was. "You're giving me your number?"

"If you don't want it you can just scrunch it up and throw it away and I'll hopefully never see you again because rejection is embarrassing."

Keith glanced back down at the paper, seemingly in shock, cheeks still a little pink. "No... I'll call you."

Lance couldn't help but smile.

"I'll be excited to see if your acting skills are better or worse than your date conversational skills."

Keith's lips quirked up, amused by that comment which made Lance feel a prideful flutter in his chest.

"They are definitely worse."

Banter, so he was cute and at least a little funny. Lance could work with that. "I'll be the judge of that."

**Author's Note:**

> There will be more to this au coming out next weekend (hopefully 😬, i'm having steroid injections for my CTS so we shall see how I am going I might upload it early instead!) 
> 
> as well as a new chapter of my single dad au will be added next week as well 🥰🥰
> 
> Thank you for reading!!!
> 
> (also keith is a college student as well, what do you think he would study??)


End file.
